Just days before the annual Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, a talk on Apple's FileVault encryption system has been abruptly canceled by its presenter.

Researcher Charles Edge told the Washington Post that he had signed confidentiality agreements with Apple. The agreements prevent him from discussing further any vulnerabilities he may have found within Apple's FileVault encryption system. Edge, director of technology of 318 Inc., has spoken at previous Black Hat and DefCon conferences.

This is not the first time a vendor has asked a security researcher not to give a talk at Black Hat.

In 2005, then-ISS employed researcher Micheal Lynn was asked by Cisco not to present a talk on flaws within that company's routers. Onstage at Black Hat, Lynn first quit his job, then went ahead and gave his original talk. Afterward, he, too, signed a confidentiality agreement with Cisco.

About the author

As CNET's former resident security expert, Robert Vamosi has been interviewed on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and other outlets to share his knowledge about the latest online threats and to offer advice on personal and corporate security.
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